You Know You Love Me
by WishfulThinking191
Summary: Just a month after the events of their first case together, Nick and Judy's friendship is closer than ever. While both inwardly realize their love for the other they will see new things, go on new adventures, and discover new things about one another. And in the end, both will realize that they couldn't live without each other...and they'll never have to. NickXJudy
1. Chapter 1: A Night To Remember

_**Let me just start out by saying that this project will most likely be the death of me! I have so much going on right now in my junior year of high school!**_

 _ **Up until a few weeks ago my life schedule was basically: wake up, school, work, homework, eat, sleep, repeat. I have always loved writing but have never really had enough time to just sit down and write for an hour or so. However, with Zootopia as my inspiration I have finally cleared up some time. Now I have officially altered my schedule to: wake up, school, work, homework, eat, WRITE, sleep, repeat.**_

 _ **Anyway, this is my first fan fiction! I am overall writing for my own entertainment and personal fulfillment but it wouldn't hurt if I had some fans as well :) I hope that you like it and I also hope that if you hate author notes that you just skipped all this and started reading instead of giving up on the story!**_

 _ **I think what I'm going to do with this is have some smaller chapters that are quick and light and somewhat easy on the NickXJudy. I think that from there I will start to involve a main story arc, maybe some darker material (but not like mega dark), and I will definitely be adding in some romance for our favorite cop duo!**_

 _ **If there are any errors in the story or in the spelling PLEASE let me know! Also if you have any ideas for the story or just wanna say "hi" don't refrain from leaving a comment for me!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: If I owned Zootopia I wouldn't be writing fan fiction, c'mon guys.**_

* * *

"And will that be all, dear?" asked the somewhat bewildered pig working behind the counter as she attempted to process what she was witnessing.

"Yep, that should do it" came an overly excited voice from under the mountain of carrots that had taken at least 10 minutes to bag and was currently leaning over the edge of the counter quite dangerously, threatening to come toppling down. The cashier had never seen anyone buy this many carrots ever… and she had been working here for over 7 years!

"Then that'll be...," said the pig as she pushed a carrot out of the way that had been covering the screen, "57 bucks, hon." The cashier heard grumbling emanating from the carrots and thought she heard something about how police officers' wages were too low as a small, light grey paw slapped a credit card onto the counter.

* * *

Meanwhile, Officer Nick Wilde, currently off duty for the evening, was bolting back and forth across his house trying to clean up as much as he could before his partner arrived. 

This was very new to Nick. Just a few months ago Nick would have been doing something very different with his life. After a successful day of hustling he would have gone out to a bar, would have ended up at his apartment at the crack of dawn, and would have then slept the whole day through, only to repeat this process when he awoke.

But now Nick had a job, a real job. For Nick it was a new beginning and a great beginning at that. He was a police officer, and he got to work with his best friend (really only friend), 24/7. The only problem was that his house was a mess and his beloved partner was at this moment on her way to his house to cook him what she said would be "the best meal of his life" and promised that if it wasn't she would do his paperwork at the station for a week.

He thought over this rapidly as he tried to wash dishes, which had been piling up in the sink for as long as he could remember, and get dressed at the same time. He ended up with his favorite tie soaking wet and more dishes on the floor than in the dish washer.

As he rushed from the kitchen and sped to clean off the table he briefly wondered why he was putting himself through this _torture_ in the first place but he quickly remembered. He didn't want to see the look on Judy's face when she saw what his house, which was perfectly clean a couple of weeks ago, had been reduced to. He could practically see her cute little ears drooping now as he scrubbed off the kitchen countertop.

Judy, after all, had played a monumental role in helping him find this house in the first place. After he had joined the ZPD, Nick had been perfectly content with living in the crummy apartment that he had called home during his hustling days, but Judy just wouldn't have it. She searched far and wide and eventually stumbled upon this house and he had moved in almost immediately.

Nick had to admit, it was perfect. The house was modest and affordable but also had enough space so that he wouldn't feel cramped. There was plenty of natural light, a fantastic master bathroom, an ample living room which opened up into the kitchen and dining room, and there were two averagely sized bedrooms.

It truly was everything Nick could have asked for and the price was amazing for the quality of the house. He was sure that Judy had haggled with the seller until she was satisfied with the price (and he wouldn't be surprised if Judy's taser was involved in sweetening the deal.)

As he finished mopping the kitchen floor, Nick fondly remembered how she had helped him purchase more furniture and move in a couple of weeks ago. As a housewarming gift she had given him the most comfortable bed he had ever slept on and of course joked that it was filled with fox fur. As grateful as Nick was though he also felt guilty.

While she had helped him move into this lovely home that he had already warmed up to, she was still stuck in that junk heap she called an apartment complete with creaky floors, greasy walls, and even crazy neighbors.

As her best friend, Nick wanted nothing more than to help her move out but he knew that she couldn't afford it. The only way he had been able to buy this house was with the money he had saved up from his Pawpsicle scheme. In her current state, the only way that Judy could move is if she had a roommate. _A roommate like me_ , Nick thought to himself.

He desperately wanted to ask Judy to move in with him but was scared of how she would take it. _Would she be weirded-out? Would she get the wrong message and think that I'm hitting on her? Would hitting on Judy be so wrong?_ He was surprised to find himself wondering this but before he could think on the matter any further he heard the sound of Judy's police cruiser pulling up in the driveway.

Nick froze in place and surveyed his house. He was actually pretty proud of what he saw and nodded in approval. The kitchen was spotless. He had managed to clean every inch of the table and had plenty of clean dishes, glasses, and silverware in the cupboards.

He had even managed to dress up rather nicely. _Not that I need to dress up to look good_ , Nick thought to himself with a suave grin.

As he surged with pride and strode up to the door, prepared to boast about his successful efforts to his dinner guest, he spied the living room and his heart dropped in an instant. He had forgotten the living room! It was a mess! Clothes were strewn across the floor, empty bags and various other items lay discarded on the foot table, and his recently assigned paperwork was spread out all over the couch.

"Great job Nick!" he yelled, scolding himself, "What are you gonna do now?!" But just as Nick started to lose hope he espied the closet by the front door where he stored extra blankets and clothing and quickly came up with a plan.

* * *

The doorbell rang just as Nick was finishing up and he wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed, once again proud of his housekeeping skills.

Only as Nick began to open the door to let Judy in did he wonder why Judy had taken so long getting to his front door from her car. Nick's fleeting question was instantly answered as he opened the door and was caught in an avalanche of orange pointed objects and a small, furry, bunny.

Both rabbit and fox yelled as they fell onto the carpet along with the carrots. Then they saw each other's faces, Nick's looking quite baffled and Judy's looking apologetic and both burst into laughter.

"I think you have the wrong address Carrots," Nick said in between his bouts of laughter "The farmer's market is next door!" He laughed even harder as she tried to get up and tripped on a carrot, falling right back to the ground.

"It must be the wrong address after all" Judy replied as she lay back giggling, "I was supposed to meet a charming, young fox and I'm met with a laughing buffoon!"

"Well sweetheart, this buffoon wouldn't be laughing so hard if a mad rabbit hadn't busted through his door with a lifetime's supply of carrots" Nick answered as he smiled that toothy grin of his and looked into her huge purple eyes that were swimming with joy.

Nick got up from the once clean floor and offered his outstretched arm to his partner to help her up. Instead, Judy placed a carrot into his paw.

"Better start cleaning up these carrots if you want any dinner tonight," said Judy as she got up and started to gather the dropped carrots.

"Tonight?!" asked Nick, "There's enough carrots here to last us 20 nights!"

Judy cocked her head to the side and feigned a pout, "Oh too bad, I guess I'll have to keep coming over here for dinner until we finish them all." Then Judy smiled and hopped into the kitchen, "I'll get everything ready; you just kick back and relax. It's about time you had someone cook for you."

 _It has been a while_ , Nick thought to himself. _In fact the last time someone had cooked for him was when he was still with his parents. Of course that was before_ … Nick suddenly shook the memories of his childhood away and decided to look forward to dinner instead.

"So what do you plan on making with all of these carrots?" Nick asked as he laid the last of the carrots down in the kitchen and watched Judy hop up onto a stool so that she could reach the countertop.

"I'll chop them up and put them in a nice pot of fox stew if you don't go relax this instant" Judy warned with a devious smile as she began to get out various cooking materials.

"I couldn't possibly let a little bunny make me my dinner while I sit back and watch! It would offend my honor!" Nick jokingly complained. Honestly Nick liked the idea of having dinner cooked for him but felt he should at least do something after she had taken the time to lug all these carrots to his house.

Judy chuckled at this, "Honor, huh? Alright," she sighed "if you really wanna help you can start by washing those carrots for me."

"Yes Ma'am!" Nick yelled as he rigidly saluted her and turned on the sink. Judy laughed to herself quietly and then dove into her work. At her home, back in the Burrows, she had been one of the few who could actually cook. Her mother often asked her for help when it came to preparing dinner and with 275 mouths to feed that meant _a lot_ of work.

Judy was actually elated to finally be able to cook again. She just hadn't had time since she had moved to the city. She was also extremely happy that she was able to share this meal with her best friend in the world. She smiled at the thought of him and looked over to see him thoroughly washing the carrots and whistling some tune to himself.

She must have stared too long because Nick noticed and met her gaze with a wink and a smirk. Judy felt herself blush slightly, although she wasn't entirely sure why, and quickly looked back down at the counter to hide it from Nick. She just hoped he hadn't seen it because she knew he would pester her about it if he had.

Nick had definitely seen Judy's adorable little blush and quickly asked in a sly voice "You OK over there, Carrots? It looked like your face was a little red."

"Oh I'm fine Nick" Judy answered defiantly, "You must be delusional. I sure hope it's not rabies."

"It might just be" Nick sighed playfully "How tragic. You'll have to take me out back and shoot me, Carrots."

"Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea right about now" she quipped, "And if you helped as much as you talked we'd be eating by now!"

"Oh? Well this slowpoke fox just finished cleaning all these carrots and if you don't mind I think I'll go and take that rest now" said Nick as he dried off his hands and started to leave the room.

"Not so fast Slick Nick" Judy said, stopping Nick where he stood, "I got just a couple more things for you to do." She said with an evil grin, or at least as evil of a grin as you can have when you're a bunny.

* * *

Nick groaned loudly as he plopped down on the living room couch for the first time all night. That maniacal little task master had made him cook practically half of the meal! He supposed he shouldn't complain though; the smells wafting from the kitchen more than made up for his hard work.

Nick had never been a huge carrot fan. In fact, he was unsure if he had even eaten a carrot before he met Judy. Now though, carrots reminded him of… well, _his_ Carrots. Not that he really minded thinking of Judy every time he saw one of the vegetables.

Anyway, at this point he was just looking forward to eating and his stomach definitely agreed with him as it rumbled in hunger.

 _At least_ , Nick thought to himself, _I can finally sit back and…_

Just then a loud and tremendously jovial "Its Reeeaaddy!" exploded from the kitchen effectively causing Nick to leap clear off of the couch in surprise.

Nick exhaled and laughed, "I'm not sure if I should thank you for the dinner or blame you for the heart attack you just gave me, Fluff!" Nick got up off the floor and walked towards the kitchen. Nick would never forget what he saw as he entered the kitchen and was stopped dead in his tracks.

The sun was setting outside and it bathed the entire kitchen in a soft blanket of red and orange. The table was filled to the brink with more food than he had ever seen in his life and the overwhelmingly delicious smell of cooked carrots hit him square in the face. And Judy, his best friend, stood by the table, smiling a huge smile and barely able to contain her excitement as she clasped her paws together excitedly.

At that moment, looking into Judy's warm, inviting eyes, Nick felt something stir inside of him, something that had been buried within him for some time. And Nick felt a strange mix of emotions bubble up that he didn't quite recognize but that he would soon become well acquainted with.

"Earth to Nick, come in Nick" Judy teased as she waved at him to snap him out of his daze "The food will get cold if you just stare at it all night."

Nick snapped out of it and smiled dazedly, "Sorry Carrots, I don't know what came over me." He went over to the table, pulled out Judy's chair for her, and gestured for her to sit.

"Oh, quite the gentleman tonight, I see" Judy said cheerfully as she took a seat.

"Don't get too used to it, fur ball" Nick teased as he took his own seat, "But honestly Carrots, thank you. It looks amazing!"

"Well I certainly hope so! I don't wanna be stuck doing your paperwork for a whole week!" Judy giggled, "Besides I'm just glad I get to be here with you."

"You know what? I feel exactly the same" Nick said softly "Now how about we dig in already?" Nick fixed his ravenous gaze on the food and licked his lips.

"Alright, alright" Judy laughed at his eagerness, "This here is carrot soup, you'll like this!" She smiled as he immediately grabbed the pot and began shoveling soup into his bowl. "And these," she said gesturing to another plate, "are carrot latkes."

Nick cocked his head to one side questioningly as he did not know what a latke was supposed to be.

"It's basically a pancake" Judy explained.

Nick instantly grabbed the plate and shoveled the food onto his plate.

"And this is a carrot stir fry; I got this recipe from my great great grandbunny!" Judy said excitedly and Nick had already scooped half of it onto his plate by the time she finished her sentence.

"OK do we have to say like some traditional bunny blessing now or…" Nick asked without looking up from his plate.

Judy snickered, "No Nick. You can eat now. Enjoy!" Judy watched as Nick exploded into action, devouring the food without hesitation. She loved that Nick was so enthusiastic about her meal. _It isn't every day you find a fox who loves carrots as much as you do_ , Judy thought to herself. _I picked quite the fox._ She couldn't believe that what had started out as such a hostile relationship had become…so much more. She had been so alone in such a big city and as excited as she was about living alone she had also felt incredibly isolated. And then she met Nick. From that point on she needed Nick almost as much as air. The two were inseparable and she found comfort in the fact that he felt the same way she did. Judy smiled to herself and began to eat.

In between mouthfuls Nick uttered something that sounded like "Mhhmm… really good… mhmm for this I'll do _your_ paperwork for a week!"

Judy's ears perked up at this and she crossed her arms and smiled coyly, "Alright, deal."

Nick suddenly choked a little bit as he realized what he had just gotten himself into. "No Carrots, it was the food talking! Not me! C'mon, you know I hate paperwork!" he whined.

Judy waved her paw and chuckled "Just kidding ya pouty fox."

Nick let out a sigh of relief and then continued to shovel food into his mouth.

"So Nick…" Judy started in a quiet voice.

Nick looked up and saw the thoughtful look in her eyes. He was curious. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well…" she hesitated and seemed to be almost nervous.

 _Come on Judy_ , she thought to herself, _just ask him!_

Nick nodded for her to continue.

"I just… wanted to know if you wanted seconds!" Judy said very unconvincingly as she lost her troubled appearance and replaced it with a smile.

Nick, of course, knew something was up but he said nothing. In the time he had known Judy he had learned that when she was ready to talk, she would. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I want seconds!" Nick responded.

As Nick helped himself to more food, Judy slowly drank her cup of fresh carrot juice and thought to herself. _That was close! I can't just ask Nick if I can move in with him! He just got his very own place! He wouldn't want a roommate right now!_

Judy truly did want to move in with Nick, not because her current living space was less than desirable but because she enjoyed being with him more than anything.

 _No._ Judy scolded herself mentally, _besides what would he think? He might be wierded-out, or even worse he might take it the wrong way and think that I'm hitting on him!_ Then from the back of her mind came a small thought: _Would hitting on Nick be so wrong?_

She almost gasped aloud at the thought of this but managed to hold it in. She didn't know how she felt and she was more than a little afraid to find out.

* * *

The rest of dinner went well, or at least it did for Judy. Nick was slouched on the couch moaning and complaining about his stomach hurting.

"It's your own fault Nick; I brought so many carrots because I wanted you to have leftovers. I didn't expect you to eat almost everything!" Judy said incredulously.

"But…ugh…it was so good." Nick said regretfully.

"Well I'm glad you liked it so much," Judy said caringly, "but I guess since you ate so much you won't be hungry for dessert."

Nick's closed eyes popped open in a flash and he whipped his head around to face her. "Dessert!?" Nick said excitedly, and then he sighed "You shoulda told me and I would've eaten less…maybe. Now I couldn't stand to eat one more carrot."

"That's why I made blueberry pie, silly" Judy giggled.

Nick gasped, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them and stared into Judy's eyes, "Judy. I. Need. That. Pie."

"What! You can't Nick! You'll… you'll pop or something!"

"It's worth it." Nick said seriously.

Judy sighed and smiled strangely at him, "OK fox, it's your funeral."

"Yes!" Nick cheered elatedly as Judy went to get him his pie.

* * *

It was now getting quite late. After Nick had eaten the pie, literally the whole pie, he dozed off on the couch as Judy talked to him.

"And that's when I decided I wanted to become a cop and make the world a better place!" said Judy as she finished telling him about the play during which she had announced to her parents her dream of becoming a police officer.

"I bet you never thought you'd be lucky enough to meet such a good-looking fox." Nick said lazily without opening his eyes.

"Nope. And I still haven't met any good-looking foxes either."

"Hey! If I weren't so content, that might have actually offended me, Carrots" Nick joked.

Judy laughed and laid back on the couch, letting her head rest on Nick's lap as she looked up at him. This made Nick open his eyes and he glanced down to see her yawning.

"Oh no," Nick said as he looked at the time on his phone, "We better get to bed or we'll be exhausted come morning."

"Alright Nick," Judy said sleepily, "I'll just get my keys and…"

Nick interrupted, "Uh uh, no way, I'm not having my best friend and personal chef go all the way back to her house just to fall asleep in some rickety apartment" Nick said protectively.

"But Nick…" Judy began to say.

"No buts, Carrots. You can sleep in the guest bedroom and in the morning we'll head to work together like usual."

Judy started to say something but then simply smiled and nodded.

"That's my Carrots" Nick smiled, "Now off to bed."

Judy smiled up at him and got up from the couch. She headed off to the bedroom.

"Nick!" she yelled from the guest bedroom, "Do you have any extra blankets? I get cold at night."

"Yep. There's a bunch in the closet out here by the front door." Nick replied without a second thought as he attempted to get up from the couch twice and failed both times. He heard the _thump, thump, thump_ of Judy's tired feet as she re-entered the living room and walked towards the closet.

 _This is what it would be like every night_ , Nick thought as he played with the idea of having Judy as his roommate. However, his thoughts were instantly dispelled as he heard the creaking of the closet door as Judy opened it. _The closet!_ Nick's brain screamed at him. _To clean up the living room before Judy could see it I shoved everything in the closet!_ All of his sleepiness drained out of him in an instant and he flailed and jumped off of the couch.

"Carrots!" He yelled, "Don't open the…" but it was too late.

Nick watched as the unsuspecting Judy opened the closet and a whole week's worth of paperwork, empty bags, and other items that had been lying in the living room prior to Judy's arrival revealed itself before her. She had just a moment to process what was happening and she issued a small yelp before the contents of the closet fell like an avalanche and buried her under it.

Nick immediately ran over to the pile with the horrible realization that he had just succeeded in burying his best friend in trash! He quickly shoved the trash out of the way.

He was met with the maddest looking bunny he had ever seen. Judy's brows were furrowed, her nose was twitching, and her foot was moving rapidly and for a split second Nick thought about re-burying her to escape her wrath.

"Nick?" She asked with a scary sort of calm anger, "Why am I covered in trash?"

Nick sucked in a breath and quickly told her how he had been cleaning and had hid the trash in the closet last minute because he hadn't wanted her to see his house so messy.

Judy listened, still with that mad look on her face as Nick apologized.

"I'm sooo sorry! I didn't remember and I didn't have time and I'm really, really sorry!" Nick winced. Judy had never yelled at him before and he was scared about what it would be like.

But, as he braced himself and winced he heard the last thing he had expected to hear at that moment. Laughter. Judy was laughing!

He opened his eyes and saw that her angry look had completely dissolved and had been replaced with a broad smile and an uncontrollable fit of laughter. The sight of her clutching her sides and rolling around in trash laughing made Nick laugh as well and soon both of them were in shambles, laughing like fools.

Eventually their laughter dwindled away and Judy sighed and spoke up "I can't believe you went through all that trouble for me" she said softly as she looked over at him, "It was a nice effort, even if you did dump a whole closet of trash onto me in the process."

Nick snickered, "I guess next time I know what _not_ to do."

Judy smiled, "No Nick, next time…" she grabbed his paw, "we'll do it together."

"Sounds like a plan" Nick replied and they stared into each other's eyes, both thinking only about the other.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Judy said after a while, "you should get to bed."

Nick smiled, "Sorry, no-can-do Carrots. I wanna make sure that you get a proper good-night. I'll wait for you."

Judy simply smiled and went to take her shower.

The last thing either of them saw that night were the faces of one another as they said their goodnights and Nick tucked Judy in and turned off the lights before they both drifted off into a deep and peaceful slumber.

* * *

 _ **WOW! That was a lot longer than I wanted it to be! I just couldn't cut it off and I had a goal in mind that I had to get to before I could end it. That was SO fun to write! Honestly, writing is becoming a great way to forget about school and everything going on.**_

 _ **The next chapters will hopefully be shorter and just as lighthearted. The romance will definitely be a while because I feel like the characters are more fun to write about when they are not yet a couple but it will definitely come!**_

 _ **Please, please, please review and leave criticism! You can't get better without knowing what you are doing wrong after all!**_

 _ **If you feel like favoriting or following that would be awesome! Anyway I really hoped someone other than me enjoyed that!**_

 _ **Look forward to the next story and any and all interaction with readers! Thanks!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Another Day, Another Case

_**Hey everyone! This is only the second chapter and I'm already feeling the love! I'm just so overjoyed that what I'm writing is actually entertaining people!**_

 _ **All of your reviews were very helpful and I even got some good advice. I know that there is definitely room to improve and I plan on spending a lot longer on the next story making sure that my characters are uniquely developed.**_

 _ **Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that this chapter is not going to pick up from the end of the last one. This installment isn't long after the events of the last chapter though, maybe like 2 days later or something. IDK. Time is hard.**_

* * *

It was a quiet morning. Outside the sun had just barely risen and was covered by wispy gray clouds. A light rain fell from the sky and dampened the ground and water dripped slowly from lampposts lining the near empty street.

A police cruiser rolled up and parked in the driveway of an averagely sized, rather cozy looking home and inside that home a fox lay fast asleep. Or at least he did until…

" _HONK!" "HONK!" "HONK!"_ The sound of the police cruiser's shrill horn beeping in rapid succession cut through the silence of the morning and the fox sat straight up in his bed, eyes wide, and mouth hanging open in surprise.

 _Oh no…,_ Nick thought to himself as he recognized the sound of the dreaded car horn to which he had woken up to many times, _not again!"_ Nick jumped up out of bed, clad only in his boxers and scampered over to the window.

Outside he saw the car that Judy picked him up in every morning for work and inside it he saw a very annoyed bunny dressed in her police uniform.

 _Late again!?_ Nick berated himself. He quickly opened the window before Judy could honk again and wake up the whole street.

The cool morning air gripped him as he waved to his partner from his bedroom window. "JUDY!" Nick yelled down to the car and he saw her look up towards him. "GIMME FIVE MINUTES!"

Judy honked the car horn quickly in response and Nick mentally went over what he had to do in five minutes. _There's no time for breakfast or a shower, I just gotta brush my teeth and my fur and get dressed._ Nick nodded to himself confidently. _Easy!_

* * *

Judy sat in the car, her foot tapping rapidly as she nervously eyed the time on her phone. Having seen Nick's morning routine Judy was very doubtful that he could make it out here in five minutes. That fox could spend an hour and a half simply getting his fur matted down the way he liked it.

Judy thought about using the horn again, because she _really_ loved the horn, but decided against it even though Nick's five minutes were almost up.

Judy slouched back in the seat and sighed, already dreading the look they would get from Bogofor being late _again_. The strict police chief called tardiness a "criminal offense." But just as Judy started to lose hope she heard Nick's front door open and sat up to see Nick rushing out to the car!

Or at least something resembling Nick. Judy's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight.

The thing that ran out of Nick's house was not the well dressed fox Judy was used to but instead what Judy imagined a homeless fox would look like. His fur was sticking up in different directions and his tail was sagging and appeared to be soaking wet. His police officer's uniform was on but the badge was upside down and as he opened the car door she was hit with an overwhelming smell of cologne that was almost unbearable.

Nick hurriedly hopped in and looked at her as she gaped at him, "Come on Carrots we gotta go! I didn't get ready this fast for nothing!" Judy quickly snapped out of it, pulled out of the driveway, and sped off on their way to the station.

Judy looked at the time and realized that they probably could make it to work on time thanks to Nick. She looked over slightly to see Nick staring down at his feet in silence.

They drove like this for quite some time and then Nick finally sighed pitifully, "OK. You can ask what happened."

Judy thought about saying that it didn't matter but she really was quite curious. "First off what happened to your fur?" she asked.

Nick grumbled, "I thought I'd use some gel to flatten it down quickly but then I accidentally squeezed some of the gel onto the floor…and I stepped on it…and fell." Nick shuddered at the memory and although Judy felt sorry for the downtrodden fox, she had to stifle a laugh as she pictured what that must have looked like.

"Are you OK?" Judy asked, concerned for her partner.

Nick replied sarcastically, "Oh yeah! Never been better! In fact I think falling onto the cold, hard floor really woke me up!"

Judy remained silent for a while. "How did your tail get soaked?" she finally asked.

Nick sighed deeply and Judy thought she saw him blush a little. "Um well…you know…I was cleaning up the gel and you know… the toilet was open, and…my tail kinda…" Judy quickly interrupted Nick as he embarrassedly recounted the event.

"You know, on second thought I don't really wanna hear about the tail!" Judy said quickly with a nervous chuckle.

"Your loss, Carrots" Nick replied, although he was truly glad that he didn't have to explain the rest of what had happened.

The two sat in silence for just a little longer as Judy neared the police station.

"Alright, one more question." Judy said.

"Go for it" Nick replied.

"Why the heck do you smell like you dropped a whole bottle of cologne on yourself?!" she asked as she rolled down a window to let in some fresh air.

Nick chuckled, "Because I did."

Judy shook her head slowly and smiled wryly, "What am I gonna do with you?"

Nick simply shrugged and smirked at her as Judy pulled into the parking lot of the station. Nick looked at the clock and saw that they were just in time. The parking lot was already full and officers were entering the building.

"C'mon Carrots we gotta go or all my hard work will go to waste!" Nick got of the car quickly and started to walk toward the station but Judy grabbed his paw.

"Hey!" Nick said confusedly. "What're you doing? We gotta go or we'll be late!"

"Trust me Nick," Judy said, "Bogo will be madder at you if you show up looking like this than if we're a couple minutes late. Now lean down."

Nick was surprised at the fact that he listened to her as he leaned down, "Why, exactly am I lean…Whoah!" Nick yelped as Judy grabbed his fur and started patting it down trying to fix it.

"You can't do this here!" Nick complained as he looked around the parking lot worriedly. "Someone'll see!"

"Why are you worried?" Judy asked, not really paying attention to Nick's words as she absentmindedly licked her paw and used it to pat down a stubborn strand of fur that kept sticking up.

"Because if one of the officers sees you fussing over me like you're my mom or something I'll never hear the end of it!" Nick continued to look around the parking lot hoping nobody was watching Judy grooming him in the parking lot as she readjusted his upside down badge.

"Oh quit whining, ya big baby!" Judy said as she took a step back and smiled, "I'm done! You look great!" As Judy smiled proudly, Nick grabbed her by the paw and rushed towards the station.

"I'll have to take your word for it! The briefing is about to start!" Nick yelled over his shoulder as he and Judy hurried up to the front doors and ran into the lobby.

Clawhauser, who was enjoying a donut (the 18th donut he had eaten that morning), saw the pair dashing through the lobby and waved. "Well look who's just in time! They're right about to start!"

As Nick continued to run towards the meeting room with his partner in tow, Judy managed to give Clawhauser a quick smile and wave before they turned down the hallway and burst right into the meeting room.

Every animal in the room turned to see a fox and a rabbit, both panting rapidly right at the front of the room. Judy looked around at the surprise on the faces of her fellow officers. She was embarrassed that they had caused such a scene so she lowered her head and went to take her seat.

Nick followed but suddenly his ears perked up and he froze as he heard the clock issue the beep that signified it was time for the meeting to commence and his face became a mask of immense joy.

"HA!" Nick yelled as he thrust his arms into the air in celebration, his smile so wide that all of his teeth were visible, "WE MADE IT! I DIDN'T THINK WE WOULD FOR A BIT BUT WE DID IT! HA!" Nick started laughing like a mad man until he heard an angry snort behind him and felt heavy breath on his neck and his smile slowly turned into a scared expression.

A deep voice behind him growled into his ear, "I suggest you sit down now Officer Wilde, or would you like to continue yelling like an _idiot_?!" Nick looked around the room to see every pair of eyes glued to him and only then realized that his celebration _may_ have been a little uncalled for.

"Yes Chief Bogo" Nick replied so quietly it was almost a whisper and scurried over to his seat.

He looked over at Judy. She was holding her paw to her mouth to keep herself from laughing while shaking her head in disbelief.

"Alright!" Bogo yelled from the front of the room, "If we are done with the _interruptions_ ," Bogo eyed Nick angrily as he said this, "I have new case assignments for all of you." Bogo cast his eyes around the room moodily and then pulled up his clipboard and put on his glasses that looked miniature compared to the rest of him.

As he called off names he gave each group a folder outlining their duties and the specifics of their case. Judy sat impatiently in her seat as her foot kicked wildly at the air as if it had a mind of its own. _Please don't be parking duty, please don't be parking duty,_ Judy begged. Bogo must know after the events of the Night Howler case that they could handle some pretty tough cases. Still, she was worried that Bogo would underestimate them.

Nick saw the troubled look on Judy's face and instantly knew what she was thinking. He put his paw on her shoulder and her leg stopped kicking nervously as she looked at him.

"Hey. Don't worry. We'll get a good assignment. Bogo knows you're the best cop in the whole of Zootopia," Nick said seriously and then smiled and added, "after me of course."

Judy smiled at this and remained at ease until Bogo finally called out their names. They hopped out of their chairs and walked up to the Chief.

"Now after your little _performance_ this morning Officer Wilde I almost reconsidered giving you this case." At this Nick smiled bashfully.

"But," Bogo sighed, "you have both showed tremendous potential and I think I can start trusting you two with much more important cases. Here," he handed them a red folder, "don't mess this up."

"We won't sir!" Judy replied enthusiastically as she jumped up and down, already excited to start the case.

Bogo shifted his gaze to Nick, "It isn't you I'm worried about Officer Hopps."

Nick simply smiled at the grumpy cape buffalo as he walked out of the room with Judy. "Oh Chief Bogo, you always say the nicest things," he remarked snidely before leaving, satisfied with the grunt of anger he heard from Bogo as he left.

Judy was too excited to notice as she greedily read all of the information in the folder. She was so caught up in the file that Nick had to place his hand on the top of her little head and steer her through the crowded hallway so that she wouldn't hit anybody.

Nick led her to a bench in the lobby and sat both of them down. "So what're we looking at Officer Hopps?"

"An armadillo, by the name of Eric Elmer. He was a demolitionist up until a couple of weeks ago when he suddenly quit his job after an intense argument with his boss and disappeared without a trace. His brother came forward a couple days ago and reported that Eric had been making explosives and had said something about blowing up his boss's home. When a squad was dispatched to Eric's house though he was gone and although there wasevidence of explosives production there were no bombs in the house."

Nick whistled, impressed by the seriousness of the case. "So what do we do?"

"Hmmmm," responded Judy deep in thought.

 _Man she looks cute when she's thinking_ , Nick thought as he watched how her face scrunched up and her eyes narrowed. Not that Nick would ever tell her that. Judy _hated_ being called cute. He had learned that the hard way and he still had a bruise on his arm to prove it.

Judy spoke up, "I think we should talk to Eric's boss first and figure out the suspect's motive. After that we should keep close watch on him and his house to protect him if Eric really was serious about attacking him. So maybe, a stakeout?"

Nick had been listening intently and nodding in agreement and when he heard stakeout he turned to face her, excitement showing on his face, "You mean we get to do one of those cool stakeouts like in the cop movies?!"

"Sure, if you think it's cool to sit still for hours on end staring into the night and probably not spotting anything." Judy watched as Nick frowned a little more with each thing she said and felt a little bad for crushing his hopes. "I'll bring snacks and we can use walkie-talkies if you want." Judy said to cheer him up and it did just that.

Nick was already excited. As he entertained himself thinking of all of the classic stakeouts he had seen in old cop films he heard a high pitched laugh from the middle of the lobby. Nick, Judy, and several other surrounding officers looked to see where it came from and saw that Clawhauser was the source of the noise.

Clawhauser saw the eyes on him and smiled, "Oh don't mind me! Something just tickled my fancy is all!" The cops just smiled at the Clawhauser that they had all come to know and love and went back to what they were doing and Nick and Judy decided to go talk to the perpetually-optimistic cheetah before they went to investigate their case.

"So what's 'tickling your fancy' these days Clawhauser?" Nick asked with a friendly grin as he walked up to the desk covered in multi-colored sprinkles.

Clawhauser looked away from his computer screen and squirmed with childish joy when he saw them. "Hi Nick! Hi Judy! It's funny you should ask that," Clawhauser looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was around, and he turned his computer monitor to face them.

Nick's jaw dropped and Judy burst into laughter as they saw the security camera footage of Judy grooming Nick from the parking lot this morning.

Clawhauser bubbled with laughter. "I wasn't spying on you, I promise! It's just my job to review security footage and I couldn't help but notice this juicy little tidbit!"

"Erase. Now." Nick said seriously. Clawhauser and Judy looked at Nick's stern face and then at the computer screen and finally at each other and erupted into laughter.

Nick's face grew red, or at least redder than it already was, and he frowned at them. "Seriously guys! I can only imagine what something like this might do to my reputation!"

Clawhauser's and Judy's laughter simply intensified at Nick's complaining and it took them at least another minute to compose themselves before Clawhauser spoke.

"Now Nick you know I can't _delete_ security footage, but I can assure you that nobody ever watches this stuff. Your secret is safe with me." Clawhauser zipped his lips and flicked away the key. Then Clawhauser looked at the screen again and his seriousness faded away as he began to laugh again.

Nick groaned. "I'm gonna go sit in the car. It's been a _long_ day." As Nick exited the building Clawhauser wiped a tear from his eye and sighed joyfully.

Judy leaned in close to Clawhauser. "You can get me a copy of that footage, right?" she asked.

"Definitely, sweetheart," Clawhauser grinned mischievously.

* * *

"OK Nick we're almost there," Judy said as she turned into StonePaw Heights, the neighborhood where the suspect's boss and potential target lived, "and would it kill you to wear your seatbelt?"

"You know I can't stand feeling restrained, Carrots. I don't judge you for your quirks." Nick replied matter-of-factly and then smiled wickedly. "Like how you sleep with a stuffed carrot."

Judy squeaked and slammed on the brakes, causing Nick to jolt forward and almost smack his head on the dashboard. "Whoa! Easy, Carrots!"

"Shoulda been wearing a seatbelt," Judy remarked, feigning pity, "and how did you know about Carl... er… I mean the stuffed carrot!"

Nick perked up, "Oh so it's Carl, is it?" he said teasingly.

Judy growled in a surprisingly predatory way. Nick quickly backed off.

"Ok, ok I'm sorry I brought it up! I only know about it cause of this one time I came over to visit you and you were gone. The door was kind of unlocked so, you know, I went in and, boom, I saw a carrot" Nick explained.

Judy huffed and started to drive again. "It was a gift my parents gave me to remind me of home when I moved out here." Judy said and Nick sensed homesickness.

Nick felt kind of bad for reminding her of her distance from home so he rushed to reconcile with her. "Ok how about a trade" Nick offered.

Judy cocked her head to one side, "Huh?"

"I know one of your secrets so in exchange I'll tell you one of mine. Deal?"

Nick instantly regretted his awful idea for a secret exchange and angrily thought to himself, _what are you doing, stupid? You've never told anyone your secrets! Ever!_

Judy forgot all about home as she wondered what Nick had to hide and agreed eagerly.

Nick frantically thought about something he could tell her. _I can't tell her about getting arrested that one time since we're kind of cops._ Nick continued to cycle through his mental catalog of secrets. _Nope that one's too personal. That one's too embarrassing. Definitely not that one!_

Nick started hoping that if he continued to stall like this Judy would forget about the deal that he had foolishly made, but she just sat there expectantly. Nick was more than a little disappointed in himself for not being able to bring himself to tell Judy almost half of his secrets. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he just wasn't used to opening himself up to people.

Up until he had met Judy, Nick had lived his whole life believing that the only person he could truly trust was himself and that confiding in anyone else would just lead to trouble. Now Nick would trust Judy with his life. However, old habits die hard and though Nick tried, he just couldn't bring himself to give away anything.

Judy sensed the discomfort in Nick's silence. "Nick, you don't have to tell me anything" Judy said reassuringly. "I get it. Some things are better off kept to yourself."

Instead of being relieved at this, Nick actually felt a little ashamed and he frowned. Judy sounded all right but he couldn't help but feel like he had let her down. His one friend in the world and he couldn't even tell her one hidden detail of his life.

Nick suddenly became very angry at himself and pledged that soon, _very_ soon there would be no secrets kept between him and Judy. Nick's thoughts were cut off as Judy's voice broke the silence.

"Here we are," Judy said, and the car slowed down and pulled into a driveway that led up to one of the biggest houses Nick had ever seen in his life. The lawn sprawled out spaciously and a pool could be seen behind the house.

Nick whistled in awe, "D'you think we can get Mr. What's-his-name to pay us for our services?"

"Nick we're cops" Judy said simply as she parked and stopped the car.

Nick thought about it for a while. "Well then maybe we could tell him that a mandatory and _very_ extensive search of his pool is in order." Nick smiled and rubbed his hands together.

Judy smiled at her partner. "You know sometimes I wonder how you made it through training."

Nick simply replied, "I had a great mentor."

"You got that right" Judy smiled and opened her door. "C'mon partner, let's go solve us a case."

Nick hopped out of the car and the pair walked up to the house side by side. As they approached the front door and rang the doorbell, the cop duo donned their sunglasses and gave each other a fist bump. Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde were on the case.

* * *

 _ **OK! I left off here just because I thought it would be good if I covered the rest of the case in the next chapter and called it "The Stakeout."**_

 _ **Also, in regards to the problem that came up when Nick wasn't able to open up to Judy, I will not just forget about it! I fully plan on resolving the conflict in an upcoming chapter. I chose to keep the tension between them kind of low because I feel like Judy would understand why Nick wants to keep his secrets and because it's much more fun to write about them when they aren't mad at each other.**_

 _ **Anyway, I hope you all liked it! If you have any suggestions, ideas, comments, criticisms, or literally anything else please contact me.**_

 _ **Oh and just a warning: I have AP exams this week and next week so the next chapter might be a little while away. But not too long :) Take care!**_


End file.
